Kein Platz für feine Damen

It's perfect casting in This Could Be the Night, with Jean Simmons as the prudish schoolteacher who wants to learn about life, Anthony Franciosa as the bad boy with good intentions, and Paul Douglas as the big softie who's just asking for a broken heart. That should be enough to sell you on the movie, but just in case it isn't, I'll continue.

Looking to pick up some extra cash, Jean gets a job in a hot nightclub as a bookkeeper. Paul Douglas instantly takes "Baby" under his wing, but Tony Franciosa thinks she doesn't fit in with their world. He tries to get her to go back to her nice, proper world, but clearly he never saw Guys and Dolls. Jean likes living on the edge!

The story is good enough on its own, but the acting really makes this movie special. All three are wonderful in their stock parts, and even though you can probably guess what'll happen in the story, you still manage to sit on the edge of your seat while it's happening. Tony and Paul have a believable chemistry together, and the screen sizzles whenever Tony and Jean share a scene. He has such a great balance of restraint and heightened emotions-if you're a fan, you need to rent this movie. If you've never seen him in a movie, this is a great one to start with; you just might get a new favorite screen couple out of it.

I happen to catch "This Could Be The Night" on TCM and loved it. I've never seen it before and wasn't disappointed in the least. It's charmingly quirky with its colorful cast of characters who inhabit the nightclub. Jean Simmons and Anthony Franciosa definitely had incredible chemistry together. The cast of characters around them held their own and were equally appealing. Unfortunately, I was called away during the last ten minutes of the movie and didn't see how it ended. Talk about bad timing! If they don't show it on TCM again, I'll have to buy it. Yes, I liked it that much. I look forward to seeing this one again very soon.

This is a very entertaining film, thanks to a good script and a strong cast.

Jean Simmons stars as Anne Leeds, a native of Massachusetts who moves to the big city for her first job---teaching in an elementary school. Her search for an additional part-time job leads her to a secretarial position in a racy nightclub, where some of the staff are wont to calling her "Baby". It's a fish-out-of-water setup that really works. Despite her presumed innocence, she insinuates herself into the operation (and their hearts).

The cast is diverse and interesting. Jean Simmons feels right for this part; more than for "Guys and Dolls, though it was a similar strait-laced role. Imagine Audrey Hepburn in either role. The big surprise for me is Julie Wilson, who plays the band singer Ivy. Quite a talent.

If you want to make a game of it, try to figure out which cast members acted in these films: "Blackboard Jungle", "Annie Get Your Gun", "Executive Suite", and "Vertigo". They are all fun to watch.

The handsome wide-screen, black-and-white cinematography and '50s-nitery milieu will remind you of "Sweet Smell of Success" -- there's even a nasty Broadway gossip columnist lurking about -- and this uneven MGM musical-comedy-drama plays kind of like a defanged version of that classic. Had it been filmed on location, it might have gotten by on atmosphere, but this is strictly a soundstage Times Square hangout, and there's not much kick to the proceedings. The central quandary: Should "nice girl" Jean Simmons be taking a part-time job as a secretary in a seedy nightclub? It's not an earth-shaking issue, nor are the subplots -- a cooch dancer wants to win a bake-off, a busboy is failing algebra, etc. The denizens of the club are a raffish and likable bunch, and the point, if there is one, is about how all kinds of New Yorkers can coexist. But the Franciosa/ Simmons romance is unconvincing -- it's one of those why-don't-you-grab-her-and-kiss-her affairs, messily and predictably set up -- and the ending feels arbitrary. The main compensation: legendary chanteuse Julie Wilson, with more curves than the B&O, growling out "I'm Gonna Live Till I Die." If this club has such classy entertainment, how come it's populated by so many lowlifes?

Quite a bit like the recent "Cold Comfort Farm" (though with a little more dramatic weight) in that in both a plucky, well-bred young woman plunks herself down in a hostile environment, rapidly wins her difficult new companions over and quickly whips them all into shape - without so much as breaking a nail in the process. And much like that picture, this too is great fun.

The director, Robert Wise, has a terrific feel for the nightclub setting and a lot of affection for its colorful inhabitants - always the key for this sort of film working. It's delightfully lively, beautifully paced and works in some fine musical numbers as well.

Marvelous cast. I love the sly, knowing look on schoolteacher Jean Simmons' face after Tony Franciosa, playing the street smart, cynical nightclub manager, comes to her rescue by breaking up a fight in her classroom. Franciosa was an intense, unselfish actor who was great at portraying inner conflict in a natural way that served the storyline, not his ego.

The algebra test subplot (yes, algebra) is a bit of a reach, and the film seems to end somewhat prematurely, but an accomplished piece of film-making nonetheless. Leonard Maltin inaccurately describes Paul Douglas' character as a gangster when in fact, he's merely a nightclub owner who, quite understandably, comes into contact with some unsavory people.